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Environmental justice

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Environmental justice refers to a political and cultural movement that supports greater environmental protection in low-income and minority communities. According to environmental justice advocates, low-income and minority communities are disproportionately exposed to air and water pollution than more affluent communities.[1][2]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has argued that environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies."[3]

The environmental justice movement began during the 1970s and 1980s after a 1971 report published by the Council on Environmental Quality argued that "low-income people of color were disproportionately exposed to significant environmental hazards." Under the Executive Order 12898 issued by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the EPA is required to take environmental justice into account in its regulatory decisions. In fiscal year 2014, the EPA devoted $8.5 million to its environmental justice program for the purpose of "supporting the EPA's outreach to other federal agencies" and "promoting opportunities for communities to be heard on environmental justice issues." From 1994 to 2014, the EPA devoted around $23 million on environmental justice grants for 1,466 recipients.[2][4][5]

Background

Some environmental justice advocates credit Martin Luther King Jr.'s support for black sanitation workers' strikes in Memphis, Tennessee, as an early work of environmental justice. During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, black workers at the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike to support improvements in their working conditions.[2][2][6]

In 1991, Robert Bullard, an environmental justice advocate, and others, such as the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, organized the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. The summit published 17 environmental justice principles, the first three of which are excerpted below:

“

1. Environmental justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.

2. Environmental justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.

3. Environmental justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things.[7]

”
—The First National People of Color Leadership Summit's Principles of Environmental Justice[2]

The table below shows various environmental justice events held from 1970 to 1994.

Environmental justice events (1970-1994)
Event Year(s) Description
Council on Environmental Quality report 1970-1971 The report argued that some environmental hazards were more pronounced in minority and low-income communities.[2][8]
Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Inc. 1978-1979 The lawsuit was filed under federal civil rights law and challenged negative environmental conditions in Texas. The lawsuit was led by attorney Linda McKeever Bullard and Robert D. Bullard.[2][1][9]
Warren County, NC protests 1982 Local residents staged a protest by laying in front of the trucks delivering soil with PCB (a synthetic chemical related to chlorine) into predominantly black communities.[2][10]
HHS report on minority health 1989 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) argued in a report that environmental contamination at Superfund sites and other formerly contaminated sites disproportionately affected minority communities.[11][2][12]
Publication of Dumping in Dixie by Robert D. Bullard 1990 Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality was environmental justice advocate Robert Bullard's study of black and white neighborhoods in the South and was considered by some environmental justice advocates as the first textbook on environmental justice.[2]
The EPA's Office of Environmental Justice created 1990 After he attended an environmental justice symposium at the University of Michigan inspired by Bullard's 1990 book on environmental justice, EPA Administrator William Reilly established what would become the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice (originally named the Office of Environmental Equity).[11][12]
National summit on environmental justice 1991 The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held a summit on environmental justice in Washington, D.C.[11][2][12]
NEJAC created 1993 The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NJEAC), a federal advisory committee, was created to advise the EPA on environmental justice issues.[2][12][13]
Executive Order 12898 1994 Bill Clinton signed an executive order stating that the EPA must focus on addressing and managing environmental risks that disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities.[14]
A group of protesters at the People's Climate March protest in New York City in September 2014

Bullard and other environmental justice advocates, such as the California Environmental Justice Alliance, have argued that climate justice should become part of environmental justice advocacy. Climate justice refers to reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to deal with potentially human-caused climate change. Climate justice also includes addressing the potential effects of climate change in low-income and minority communities and developing policies aimed at establishing wind and solar power facilities in these neighborhoods and financing the projects with government funding.[15]

Legislation

Reggie Harris, an Environmental Justice Coordinator for the EPA, explains environmental justice.

Few legislative bills related environmental justice have passed in Congress. Former vice president Al Gore and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) introduced the Environmental Justice Act in 1992, though the act never passed in Congress.[16]

One policy related to environmental justice is Executive Order 12898, issued by President Bill Clinton (D). The order directed the federal government to consider environmental justice in its decisions. Under the order, the EPA and 17 federal agencies are required to recognize the "disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs on minority and low-income populations."[14] The order instructed these agencies to provide environmental and health information to low-income and minority populations. The order was endorsed by President Barack Obama (D), who said the following: "Executive Order 12898 affirmed every American's right to breathe freely, drink clean water, and live on uncontaminated land. Today, as America marks 20 years of action, we renew our commitment to environmental justice for all. Because we all deserve the chance to live, learn, and work in healthy communities, my Administration is fighting to restore environments in our country's hardest-hit places."[14][12][17]

Figures

Robert Bullard

Robert Bullard

Robert D. Bullard is an environmental justice advocate. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Iowa State University and published Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality. Bullard assisted his wife on the case Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Inc. (1978). The lawsuit alleged that minority communities were discriminated against in Houston, Texas due to the disproportionate number of municipal landfills in those areas. Bullard's survey of the environmental status of black communities during the 1970s was incorporated into his book Dumping in Dixie.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton
Al Gore

Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 (1994), which directed the federal government to consider environmental justice when making environmental policy decisions. Clinton also established the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a federal advisory committee created to guide the EPA on environmental justice matters.[14][12]

Al Gore
Al Gore is the former vice president of the United States and an environmental justice advocate. As of February 2015, he served as chairman of the Climate Reality Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Gore co-sponsored the Environmental Justice Act in 1992 with Rep. John Lewis (D).[18]

John Lewis

Rep. John Lewis

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), along with Al Gore, introduced the Environmental Justice Act of 1992, which would have required nondiscrimination policies in all environmental, health, and safety law enforcement. Lewis advocated for the signing of Executive Order 12898 by Bill Clinton.[19][16]

Gina McCarthy

Gina McCarthy
Gina McCarthy was appointed as the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2013. McCarthy pledged to make environmental justice a focus of the EPA's policies. "I have no intention of leaving behind environmental justice communities. We need to look at who is not winning in this equation," McCarthy said regarding environmental policies.[20][21][22]

Groups

  • The Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded by conservationist John Muir in 1892. The Sierra Club supports environmental justice programs and has awarded its John Muir Award to Robert D. Bullard and Al Gore. Its stated mission on environmental justice is "to discuss and explore the linkages between environmental quality and social justice, and to promote dialogue, increased understanding and appropriate action."[23][24][25]
  • The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created in 1970. The NRDC called human-caused climate change, the Gulf Coast cleanup after Hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery efforts as environmental justice issues.[26][27] According to the NRDC's website, "Traditional environmental groups have also formed partnerships to support environmental justice organizations in many of their struggles. Groups such as NRDC often provide environmental justice organizations with technical advice and resources, supply expert testimony at hearings and join in litigation."[27]
  • The California Environmental Justice Alliance is a nonprofit organization founded in 2001. Its stated mission is "to strengthen the progressive environmental justice movement in California by building on the local organizing efforts and advocacy successes of our member organizations and use them as a means to achieve state policy change."[28] The organization's primary activities have included organizing minority communities to support environmental laws and increased renewable energy production. The group supports solar energy production in minority communities as environmental justice issues. According to the group's website, "Green policies that remove barriers to opportunities for low-income communities of color can help simultaneously address some of our most pressing environmental and social problems through job creation and more resilient, sustainable local economies."[29]
  • New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1991. The organization is a collection of member groups throughout New York City. It advocates in favor of "improved environmental conditions and against inequitable environmental burdens" in low-income and minority communities.[30]

Criticism

Critics of environmental justice have argued that there is little evidence that environmental risks disproportionately affect minority and low-income communities. Christopher Foreman, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, supported the environmental justice movement's citizen mobilization efforts but pointed to separate studies published by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) in 1983 and 1995, respectively, to rebut the claim that environmental problems disproportionately affect low-income and minority areas. The GAO's 1983 report argued that hazardous waste sites were more often found near low-income communities, though the study focused on eight states. In the 1995 report, the GAO argued that less than half of waste sites nationwide were located near minority or low-income communities. According to Foreman, the evidence for greater environmental risks in minority communities is lacking.[31][32]

Steven Hayward of the conservative American Enterprise Institute argued that there is little evidence that environmental risks disproportionately affect minorities and low-income neighborhoods. Hayward argued that the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) data on environmental health and minority communities show limited evidence that minority citizens suffer from environmental chemicals in their blood at greater levels than white citizens. The CDC argued that black and Hispanic individuals have higher levels of lead in the blood compared to white individuals while white individuals had higher levels of chemicals like cadmium in their blood than Hispanic and black individuals. Further, the CDC argued that white, black, and Hispanic individuals had similar levels of mercury in their blood. Hayward argued that the evidence did not show that minority individuals were exposed to more chemicals than white individuals and that the CDC did not find the precise cause of higher levels of exposure to certain chemicals in minority individuals compared to white individuals.[31][33]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Humanities Center, "Defining Environmental Justice: Roots of a Movement," accessed February 25, 2015
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Internet Encyclopedia, "The American Environmental Justice Movement," accessed February 25, 2015
  3. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "What is Environmental Justice," accessed February 24, 2015
  4. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Quarterly EJ Conference Report," accessed March 12, 2015
  5. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "FY 2015 EPA Budget in Brief," March 1, 2014
  6. ↑ Stanford University, "Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike (1968)," accessed February 25, 2015
  7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  8. ↑ The White House, "August 1971 The First Annual Report Of The Council On Environmental Quality," January 4, 2010
  9. ↑ Law Library, "Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Corp. (1978)," accessed February 25, 2015
  10. ↑ Maryland Department of the Environment, "Brief History of Environmental Justice in the United States," accessed February 25, 2015
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ucc
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named energygov
  13. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "National Environmental Justice Advisory Council," accessed February 26, 2015
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Environmental Justice: Basic Information," accessed February 25, 2015
  15. ↑ India Resource Center, "Principles of Climate Justice," August 28, 2002
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 GovTrack.us, "H.R. 5326 (102nd): Environmental Justice Act of 1992," accessed February 25, 2015
  17. ↑ The White House, "Presidential proclamation: 20th anniversary of executive order 12898," February 10, 2014
  18. ↑ Climate Reality Project, "Who We Are," accessed February 26, 2015
  19. ↑ Color Lines, "EPA Pays Tribute to Rep. John Lewis and Environmental Justice," February 27 2014
  20. ↑ Washington Post, "New EPA head McCarthy outlines ambitious agenda in Harvard speech," July 30, 2013
  21. ↑ Energy and Environment News, "Obama climate push makes environmental justice a 'mainstream' issue -- McCarthy," September 11, 2013
  22. ↑ National Journal, "EPA Chief Defends Administration on Environmental Justice," March 3, 2014
  23. ↑ Sierra Club, "Environmental Justice," accessed February 25, 2015
  24. ↑ The Sierra Club, "About the Sierra Club," accessed June 13, 2014
  25. ↑ Washington Post, "Robert Bullard, pioneer in environmental justice, is honored by the Sierra Club," September 24, 2013
  26. ↑ The Natural Resources Defense Council, "About Us," accessed June 13, 2014
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Natural Resources Defense Council, "The Environmental Justice Movement," October 12, 2006
  28. ↑ Idealist, "About California Environmental Justice Alliance," accessed February 27, 2015
  29. ↑ California Environmental Justice Alliance, "CEJA's Vision," accessed February 27, 2015
  30. ↑ New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, "Mission," accessed February 27, 2015
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 American Enterprise Institute, "Environmental Justice: Where Selma and the Cuyahoga River Fire Meet," October 31, 2003
  32. ↑ Brookings Institution, "Remarks on Environmental Justice," January 11, 2002
  33. ↑ U.S. Centers for Disease Control, "National Reports on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals," accessed March 6, 2015
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